by Amelia Jade
“You can’t have her,” he snarled to himself, getting back to his feet and continuing on. “That’s not how it’s done! We need to take it slowly.”
The rampaging dragon wasn’t listening to a word he was saying, straining now against the mental command he exerted over his body, trying to install itself as the master. He couldn’t let it do that. If it won then Kaitlyn would be in grave danger. The beast didn’t know its own strength, and in its desperate quest to claim her it would likely do serious if not fatal damage to her, not to mention trying to take her when she didn’t want it.
Aric knew that it was way too soon, but the animal in him only understood one thing just then. Mate.
“Shouldn’t have kissed her,” he hissed. “Can’t believe I was so stupid.” His legs worked frantically as he cleared the third building. Home stretch now. He was on level ground. “I can do this. I can—”
He collided with someone rounding the corner, and to his surprise went rebounding away from whoever it was.
“Hey!” The shout was metallic but human.
Amplified by a speaker, he realized, getting to his feet as he looked up at one of the battlesuits Kaitlyn had been watching just a few minutes ago.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, holding up one hand. “That’s my fault.”
“You’re damn straight it is. You dented my suit. What the hell is your problem?”
The suit took a step toward him.
“Ah shit.” The dragon’s attention changed so abruptly that Aric lost control. His other half leapt into the driver’s seat, intent on punishing the savages it thought had disrespected it. Although it couldn’t really speak, lifting his right hand with the middle finger upraised did all the talking in the world.
“Excuse me?” The suit reared back just like a human. Then the metal fingers clenched together in a fist.
Aric cringed as half a dozen suits followed the initial speaker out of the intersection. This was not going to go well. His dragon wasn’t adept at fighting in human form, and Aric retained enough control for the moment that he could prevent it from changing.
“What are you going to do now?” the leader snapped.
His dragon half lunged forward and tackled the suit to the ground. Judging by the effectiveness of the move, the occupant hadn’t expected him to be a dragon. They rolled around, trying to get leverage on one another.
Aric chose this moment to interfere, ensuring some punches were poorly aimed and yanking his leg out from under him at one point as well, sending him back to the ground and giving the suit the advantage. It wasn’t much, but because his dragon was distracted he could fight against it as well.
A metal fist crunched into his temple. Pain flooded his body, making its way past the dragonbone armor that arose to protect him from the worst of the blows. Aric screamed mentally in agony, trying desperately to reorient himself and take control.
“I don’t know what got into you, dragon boy,” the suit growled, obviously having picked up on what he was by now, “but you’re going to regret going up against the Steel Scales. If you haven’t heard by now, we train with your kind, and we know all your tricks.”
The man’s attitude was wearing thin on Aric, and he let it show. “Do you know this one?” he asked, unleashing a bolt of power from his fist.
The lightning blast struck the suit in the core and propelled him into the side of the building and through the outer wall.
Ah shit. That’s gonna come out of my pay.
The suit came flying back out of the building and right at him. Aric’s anger was giving his dragon more strength, lending it further control over his body, as evidenced when his right hand suddenly shifted, the fingers merging and lengthening into the triple claws that were definitely not human.
He clawed back against that before his body could strike the soldier, and he hit the metal exterior with the flat of his palm. It was still a heavy blow and the metal dented and the soldier reeled back, but it wasn’t a potentially deadly penetration of the armor.
Next he yanked back as his dragon tried to manifest its wings.
“What the hell is going on with this guy?” one of the others said, taking a step back.
Aric was flicking in and out of dragon form now as he fought with his dragon. His face changed abruptly, forming a scale-covered snout before he hauled back, the skin snapping back into place even as his legs grew and sprouted claws. Snarling, he pulled against his other half, falling to the ground lopsided as only one leg obeyed his commands at a time.
Even before he’d finished assuming control of his legs he had to stretch his mind to stop his wings from coming back. Then he choked back a bolt of lightning from his mouth that the dragon tried to hurl at the nearby suits. The metal forms backed up, giving him plenty of space as he tried to wrestle his dragon into submission and failed, over and over.
“Get yourself under control, son.”
He glanced up to see someone standing over him. A person, not a suit. Tall, long black hair down to his shoulders pulled back behind his neck. He wore a black jumpsuit that screamed paramilitary.
Aric tried to tell him to leave, that it wasn’t safe, but he couldn’t speak. His dragon had recognized a real threat and was orienting on the newcomer. The big man shook his head.
“You don’t want to do that,” he said calmly.
Panicking, Aric went all out, pummeling his mental strikes against the imaginary “door” to the control room of his brain, trying to stop his idiot dragon from doing something even dumber than fighting a unit of battlesuits. This man was a dragon, and a mean-looking one at that.
Fear filled his mind…half his mind? It was really confusing trying to figure out how emotions were felt inside of his head. His dragon was still in control though, and it pulled back a fist. Aric knew he had no chance to stop it from landing, so he concentrated on doing something else. Seizing control of his other arm he flung against it with all his might, trying to throw his body off balance.
Aric watched through his own eyes as his left fist came flying up and around in a wild, unaimed swing, and connected perfectly with the other dragon’s jaw.
The hiss of surprise from the battlesuits was audible, as was the angry growl from the other dragon shifter.
“I’m really sorry about this,” he said, spitting a bit of blood.
Then he waded in and systematically beat the shit out of Aric until he was lying on the ground covered in bruises.
“Wait,” he croaked as his dragon finally relented and retreated, too weary from the energy expelled in the fight to keep fighting and trying to heal his new wounds. “I’m okay now.”
One more blow landed on his jaw. The world reeled around him and blackness started to close in.
“Thanks, Vanek,” he heard someone speak. Probably one of the battlesuits.
Thank God Kaitlyn hadn’t been here to see this. She would be so disappointed in him if she saw how poorly he fought. Then again, if she knew that his dragon was sent into a frenzy because of her, she might worry instead and blame herself. He couldn’t do that to her; it wasn’t her fault his dragon was terrified of women and had a fit every time he got close to one.
The grumpy beast in his brain lashed out at him for that, and all at once blackness came for him, dragging it down into its cool, comforting grasp. Aric fought hard, but it was a losing battle.
Knowing he was about to pass out sucked, and was embarrassing. At the end of the day though, he’s kissed his mate. He’d kissed Kaitlyn, and she’d kissed him back! She didn’t hate him! Exuberance filled the few fleeting thoughts he had left as everything spun around him.
The last thing he heard was the other dragon shifter speak one last time.
“He’ll face the consequences, don’t worry.”
Then the blackness arrived in its fullness, and Aric knew no more.
Chapter Twelve
Kaitlyn
Pacing up and down the corridor outside of the negotiation room was getting
her nowhere, but Kaitlyn didn’t know what else to do.
“Where the hell is he?”
She’d gotten ready and texted Aric that she was good to go when he was, but he’d never responded. After waiting another five minutes she’d gone and knocked at his door. There had been no answer, but to her surprise the quarters were unlocked and she was able to enter them.
Aric hadn’t been inside, dashing her initial hopes that maybe he’d just overslept. Unlike him, but easily fixable. A more thorough search revealed that his stuff was still packed in his bag. Even the bed looked like it hadn’t been slept in. The comforter on it still had the impression of his suitcase from where he must have initially put it.
Forced to conclude that he hadn’t stayed the night there, she’d made her way over to the negotiation room, where she was now frantically looking at her watch and waiting for him to make a heroic last-minute entrance and save the day. Unfortunately it didn’t look like that was going to happen, her watch ticking away the last thirty seconds until the appointed meeting start time.
Kaitlyn watched the number fall, her stomach dropping with each moment that passed. Finally she had to give it up. Holding up the security badge she’d been given to the door scanner, she waited for it to slide open. The solid steel portal slid aside.
“Where the fuck have you been?” she cried at the sight of Aric sitting at the table, his back to her. She couldn’t see his face, but she’d recognize that hair and those shoulders anywhere.
Two other heads lifted to look at her, and Kaitlyn almost ducked back out of the door. Both Kallore and Colonel Mara registered expressions of disdain at her outburst, though neither was rude enough to say anything to her. They didn’t have to though; Kaitlyn was more than capable of berating herself.
“Uh, sorry,” she said sheepishly, slipping into the room and trying to take a seat as meekly as possible, while not giving in to her temper the instant she was able to see his face.
“Good to see you,” Colonel Mara said with a tight smile. “Sorry we had to cut things short yesterday, but something came up.” She snorted. “Something is always ‘coming up’ these days. I long for the days where nothing happened.”
Nobody responded, and Kaitlyn absolutely was not going to be the first person to speak up. Not again. Twice now she’d made a fool of herself in front of everyone, and she was done doing that. So instead she sat back, paid attention, and contributed where she could. Thankfully today was less technical detail and more on numbers, things she could get a grasp on with far less preparation.
They talked training, number of suits, delivery schedules, and follow-up visits, and even began to dabble in pricing, though both Aric and Colonel Mara didn’t seem ready to dive into that front just yet, much to her disappointment.
Eventually the day ended and the other pair departed, leaving her alone with Aric once again. He seemed quiet, almost apprehensive. Probably waiting for me to lash out at him again. Although he deserved it, she didn’t feel like getting angry at him right then would get her the results she sought, so Kaitlyn asked him a question that had been on her mind and growing for some time now.
“You seem really invested in this deal,” she remarked. “On a personal level, I can see it in the way you talk. Getting these suits is really important for you, isn’t it?”
Aric glanced at her, his expression changing once more. “What do you mean?”
“It’s your eyes,” she said softly, settling back into the chair next to him. “They’re what betray you. Normally they’re cold. Distant. Calculating even. For the most part you keep them under control when talking to the colonel, but every now and then, usually when you’re talking about the Guard, they grow brighter. Fuller.” She looked away. “Almost emotional.”
The big man sat back into his chair, looking down at her even though they were both seated. “I train with them you know,” he replied, keeping his voice low as well. “Once or twice a month. Did you know that?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, I know next to nothing about you, Aric, besides what I’ve learned in the past couple of days really.”
He smiled, a short-lived thing that came and went like a strike of lightning. “I do my best to keep my business and personal life separate.”
“You do a way better job than anyone else I know who tries to do that. You’re a ghost outside of work as far as anyone is concerned. I’m curious why it means so much to you though.”
Aric looked at her. Really looked. A shiver ran down her spine as she felt, for lack of a better word, evaluated by his gaze. Not for her physical appeal, though she’d caught him doing that here or there as well, but for something else.
“My…family works very closely with the Guard,” he explained, getting up and pacing slowly from one side of the room to the other. “The military means a lot to us, and to many of our friends. Some of us have served, while almost all of us at a minimum have worked extremely closely in once capacity or another with the elite units.”
“That explains why you were sent to close this deal.” She frowned. “I still can’t figure out why the military isn’t buying the technology. Shouldn’t it go that way?”
“We’re not really buying the technology, though. We’re buying the suits themselves.”
Kaitlyn could hear his gentle urging to drop it, but she hadn’t gotten to where she was in the bank’s hierarchy by backing down. “And then what, loaning them to the Guard? I don’t understand how this works, unless…” she trailed off.
“Unless what?” Aric paused in his walking, looking down at her.
Unless the bank is actually owned by the government. She didn’t say it, deciding that this was time to keep counsel to herself.
“I’m not sure.” Another idea struck her. What if she wasn’t looking at it properly?
All along she’d assumed that the bank was independent, and then the government oversaw the military, the Guard. What if that wasn’t the case? What if she had it backward, and the Guard were independent, or even technically owned by the bank?
Kaitlyn wasn’t sure she wanted to explore that idea any further. A privately-owned entity that acted as the nation’s military? In a country that was the neutral territory in the world. Worldwide declarations had been named after the cities that had hosted them. Important ones that governed the rules of international warfare and prisoner treatment.
To think that all of that had been done under false pretenses was…astounding. Terrifying as well, because it meant she’d stumbled upon a secret that she wasn’t supposed to know.
Or even worse, a secret that Aric had decided to tell her about. No, she shoved that out of her mind. Aric was not an evil person trying to trap her with this and use it to blackmail her. She just couldn’t believe that was him. There had to be more to it, and she could only trust that he would tell her in time.
“Why did you run away yesterday?” she said, blatantly changing the subject and avoiding his pressing gaze.
Aric reared back in surprise, the instant and largeness of his movement startling her and producing a similar action from Kaitlyn. She too stood, tired of having to look so far up at him. Of course, standing didn’t decrease the distance that much, but it made her feel better about it.
“I wasn’t running away,” he countered.
She didn’t speak up, waiting for him to continue, but he didn’t say anything else. “That’s it? You’re just going to deny exactly what happened and not provide an explanation?”
“Pretty much.”
Kaitlyn’s lips flattened into a thin line. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
Aric was looking at her, his face blank except for the wariness in his eyes as they shifted around to focus on various points of her face. Gauging her, trying to tell just how frustrated she was with him. The answer was: a lot. Ever since arriving at the base things had gone sideways. Their hotel rooms, the missing folio of information she desperately needed, them kissing, him disappearing until the ne
xt morning. She didn’t like any of it.
“I was feeling unwell.”
She examined his face in return, looking for any ticks or avoidance of her stare that would indicate he was lying, but nothing came up. If he was feeling unwell, why hadn’t he just said that in the first place? He could have texted her later on. That didn’t answer the question of where he’d stayed the night before however, or why he hadn’t contacted her.
“You seemed fine at lunch. Was it something you ate?”
“No.” He waved a hand at her. “I’d rather not talk about it though.”
She gave him a harder look. “You’d better not stand there and say it was kissing me. I did not get you sick. I’ll have you know I’ve had my cooties shot since grade three, and I kept up to date on it for four years. It wasn’t me.”
Aric laughed freely, the booming sound echoing in the small room. The genuine mirth on his face pleased her. He must be feeling somewhat better.
“Kissing you was a surprise, to be sure. But no, you’re not the problem.”
The odd phrasing caught her attention, but she had no time to think on it, because Aric was suddenly in front of her. She backed up swiftly, until her rear pushed up against the table they’d been using for negotiations.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked as he stepped closer, all but pinning her in place.
“Showing you that I can kiss you and stick around. That you don’t make me sick. I can see that you doubt me.”
“I never said that,” she protested, shaking her head. Or was it just trembling from the nerves? It was hard to tell.
“Not in so many words, but I want to put to rest any doubts that may exist.”
“Oh,” she said in a weak, fluttering voice.
She had no chance to think that over, because hands grabbed her hips and lifted her onto the table. Kaitlyn had never been manhandled like that before, treated like she were just an object to be moved and not some dainty flower made from porcelain. It was fun, and the surge of adrenaline bolstered her confidence as he kissed her for a second time in less than twenty-four hours.